WTF: Discrimination By Our ISP? OK, We Can Freak Out Now

Ah, the old ball ‘n chain…Wait, on the computer?What could it possibly mean?

Well, I’ll tell you. A recent verdict by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia basically obliterated a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) order from 2010 that said Internet service providers (ISPs) like Verizon, AT&T, Comcast and Time Warner Cable had to abide by the principles of network neutrality.

Under the protection of these principles, the management process of the ISPs had to be clear, and as the Huffington Post writes, they were not to “engage in practices that block, stifle or discriminate against (lawful) websites or traffic types on the Internet.” In other words, no favoritism could be shown by these providers.

But now the game has changed and “net neutrality” may be a thing of the past.

So why should we care ? Here’s a few reasons the Huffington Post thought up:

1. No more net neutrality means ISPs can now discriminate against content they dislike.

Everyone gets their Internet from an Internet service provider — an ISP like AT&T, Verizon, Comcast or Time Warner Cable. Under net neutrality rules, these ISPs have to treat all content you access over the Internet “roughly the same way” — they can’t speed up traffic from websites they like or delay competitor’s traffic.

December 6, 2016

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